Crusey Leads Yale Past Dayton, 3-0

ALBANY, N.Y. - Junior Alexis Crusey matched her season high with a match-best 18 kills while hitting .378, and junior Cat Dailey recorded a double-double to lead the Yale volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over Dayton on Saturday afternoon at the UAlbany Invitational in Albany, N.Y.

With the victory, the Bulldogs improved to 5-3 on the season while Dayton slipped to 9-5.

"I couldn't be more pleased with our performance," said Yale Head Coach Erin Appleman of the squad's sweep. "Lexi [Crusey] really stepped up for us."

Neither team gained a clear advantage through much of the first set, as the squads traded points to an 11-11 deadlock. At that point, Dayton pieced together an 11-6 run to claim a 22-17 lead. The lead was short-lived, however, as a quartet of Dayton errors and a kill from Crusey quickly knotted the score at 22-22. The Bulldogs and Flyers went back and forth to a 24-24 tie before an attack error and then a block from freshmen Taylor Cramm and Bridget Hearst locked up the first set for Yale by a score of 26-24. Crusey posted a set-high nine kills in the opening frame.

The Bulldogs kept their momentum is the second stanza, jumping out to a seven point lead at 14-7. The Flyers hung tough and chiseled the lead down to a point at 20-19. After a Yale timeout, the Bulldogs came out firing with a 5-1 run to put the set away by a score of 25-20. Crusey and Dailey each had five kills in the set.

For the second time in as many matches, Yale entered the third set holding a 2-0 lead. This time, however, the Bulldogs refused to let Dayton derail them, as they broke an early 5-5 tie and never locked back en route to completing the sweep with a 25-20 win.

The Bulldogs will conclude action at the UAlbany Invitational this evening with a 5 p.m. match against Long Island.